Gyroscopic Investing

I used to have a retail business with multiple locations.  It was profitable.  We also had kids playing with our kids, a big property with swimming, boating, and other opportunities for harm.  Now the business is sold and the kids are grown.  And soon the property will be downsized.  But we do have a considerable nest egg. 

We have had a personal liability umbrella add-on to our homeowners policy for quite a while.  It adds one or two million dollars (can't recall offhand) to liability coverage not only on household and other events but on vehicles as well.  It's not cheap.  In fact, our insurer has stopped selling them, but we are grandfathered.  I'm trying to figure out if we still need it.  (Like any insurance, if there is a big claim, you need it.  I get that.)  It will come into play if we get sued for some sort of accident.  Well, what happens without it?  Most people don't have this coverage; they just have normal coverage limits.  There are retirees with nest eggs without it.  Just throwing this out for discussion, as I am quite conflicted.

Agreed... I'm not sure what you consider "expensive," but umbrella tends to be dirt cheap for the protection it offers.  By no means to I ever think I will use it, nor anyone else I know, individually, but I'll be damned if I'm going to lose everything to a stupid lawsuit .

I will concur with the above opinions. If you have any kind of assets an umbrella policy is a must.

I also am a proponent of unbrella insurance - low cost and high value.  I hope I never have to use it.  I also have heard from reputable sources (I do not remember now who they were as I've had umbrella insurance for quite a while) that you should insure for about 2X your net worth to cover the frivoulous lawsuit potential. 

... Mountaineer

MangoMan wrote: IMHO, you don't want to give up that umbrella, especially if you have assets to protect. Shop around for another insurance co. Usually, the umbrella policy has to be issued by the same co that insures your cars. I switched my auto and umbrella insurance to GEICO a few years back bc their rates were WAY better than State Farm's. I don't think $200/year or so is expensive for $1M extra coverage.

Ours is $2MM coverage but costs over $1800/year.  That seems quite high to me.

No teens, but a 23 y.o. male student, with a clean driving record.
I guess we will have to shop around then.  As I mentioned, our current carrier no longer even offers this coverage, but has grandfathered those who have it.  I guess we should take the hint and find a new carrier. 

MangoMan wrote:

I Shrugged wrote:

MangoMan wrote: IMHO, you don't want to give up that umbrella, especially if you have assets to protect. Shop around for another insurance co. Usually, the umbrella policy has to be issued by the same co that insures your cars. I switched my auto and umbrella insurance to GEICO a few years back bc their rates were WAY better than State Farm's. I don't think $200/year or so is expensive for $1M extra coverage.

Ours is $2MM coverage but costs over $1800/year.  That seems quite high to me.

That is ridiculously high. Unless you have a bunch of teen drivers and have a bad history of auto accidents. You should definitely shop around.

If you have an ounce of trust in your insurance guy you should get his 2 cents on it.  Some grandfathered ltc coverage is badass. I'd hate to see you drop good coverage.

But I think that is insanely expensive.